Bunny in balcony

[Horlicks]

Hi guys!

Wanted to see if you guys have any experience and advice for me.. We recently got ourselves a 3 month old lion lop and we have been keeping her in the house with access to a cage otherwise she’s free roaming around the house.

Now because we cannot fully rabbit proof the house (she bites through plastic tubings for our wires!) , we have to keep her in her cage while we are at work because there’s no supervision. Even though we have bought her the biggest cage we could find, I know she’s clearly unhappy whenever she goes back in.

We have a really tiny house but ironically we have a kick ass huge balcony, that is 3/4 empty most of the time. It occurred to us that we could really use the space for our rabbit.

So this is the way my balcony is structured:

1. It is completely sheltered so no fear of rain coming in
2. However in the afternoon it can get hot. What I did was to install a ceiling fan as well as an oscillating fan. I have also placed quite a few cardboard boxes around for her to hide from the heat if she needs.
3. It is linked to my living room and so when we are home, we will open the fence and let her in the house to bond and play with her.

My rabbit is clearly extremely happy with her new, much increased space to run around. But I still fear that I may be missing something to keep her safe in the balcony. One thing I can think of is perhaps birds flying into my balcony, although honestly in my years of staying at my place I’ve never seen a single bird enter my balcony.

Does anyone have any experience in placing their rabbits in balconies? Any advice for me? The space in the balcony is perfect for my rabbit and she loves it so I will really hope to make this work out. Much thanks in advance!!!!

[tobyluv]

Since you said the balcony links to your living room, that makes me think it is on the first floor, which means that predators – dogs, cats, wildlife could jump over the railing or side and get to your bunny. If it’s on an upper floor, then the only predator likely to get in would be a hawk, which are certainly dangerous to rabbits. If you have a railing and not a solid side to the balcony, you would have to make sure that your rabbit couldn’t get her head stuck or squeeze through. Rabbits can also jump high. Some rabbits can jump 4 feet or more. Any time a rabbit is outside, you need to make sure the habitat is completely predator proof and escape proof.

To give your rabbit more space inside the house, you could attach an x-pen to her cage. I know that you said your house was very small, but maybe you would have room to do this.

Since she is young and hasn’t been spayed yet, it could be that she will calm down and not be as much of a chewer after she has matured and been spayed, but some rabbits are bad chewers throughout their whole life.

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